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Jason Bard
Personality Whenever Jason is upset or unsettled and need to blow off some steam, he wont' sit still. Oftentimes he'll pick out a bar to have a brawl in if he's angry, but if he's feeling depressed or pensive, he'll go for some solitary exercise out in the woods. He loves nature, and has token knowledge of how to care for the land, taken from his time in the Faerie Ring. He loves hiking, climbing, jogging, climbing, swimming, climbing and just generally anything that gets his blood pumping. He also enjoys getting active in the city as well, especially in dance clubs. Or the backrooms of them. Usually, Jason's an incredibly upbeat dude who won't tolerate emo whiners, assholes, emo whiners, entitled bitches, or emo whiners. While he's not into the idea of breaking rules for the sake of chaos, he'll definitely disregard boundaries of legality and safety for the purpose of having a little fun. Getting people to smile and laugh at his ultimate goals, especially if the smile comes on the face of a pretty girl. Usually. Currently, Jason's in a constant state of depression, due to the loss of his voice. It's been months since he's smiled, and although he's still making efforts to get out of the house at Bianca's behest, he's not much for making friends at the moment. Public History Not a whole lot is known about Jason in Crystal Springs, though that's mostly true for any new visitors. At the moment of his arrival, you won't get much out of him: The loss of his voice has made him cranky and antisocial. Once you do get him talking (or writing, as the case may be) you'll find he's pretty open about his past. He still calls Faerie Ring his home, he's a consummate entertainer (though he'll never claim any great amount of technical or songwriting skill), journeyman carpenter, and he's currently in CS with the intention to seek out the healing springs and find a way to restore his voice. Friends and Acquaintances Player Characters Bianca Mikhaylov :Formerly Leyna Kitaev, she's a Shadow Lord Ragabash using a fetish to hide herself as a kin. No, there are no ulterior motives. She simply does it so she and Jason can live in Garou society as mates. Jason is deeply in love and intensely loyal to his mate, as well as holding a very high opinion of her as a woman, a Shadow Lord and a Garou. Marina Dale :After Jason moved down to the Faerie Ring following his failed challenge, he came across a beautiful traveller named Marina Dale who was passing through. Though they never managed anything beyond heavy flirting in the two weeks she stayed, their time together was definitely memorable. For Jason, at least. Rommy Akana :The reason for Jason's departure from the usual Fianna mindset on metis. Jason met Rommy during the tail end of Jason's cliathhood, when Rommy first came to Quiet Sun. Rommy taught Jason a bit of martial arts, as well as providing expert advice on general fighting technique. Always respectful and never overly domineering, Rommy is held in high regard by Jason, even after having been out of sight and out of mind for years. Heather Akana :Being a whole lot younger than Jason, they never became close friends, but Jason respected Heather and felt that she would make a wonderful philodox, when she developed more self-confidence. Urick Garret :Called Beefy McLargeHuge by Jason (though never to his face), this Ahroun has always drawn a little bit of awe and a little more fear from Jason. Being something on the side of homicidal regarding Jason after finding out about his charach, Jason was glad to get away from him when he left Quiet Sun, if only out of fear for his own skin. Non-Player Characters Memphis Bard :Jason's father, Adren Fianna Galliard, and the Righ of the Fianna at the Sept of the Faerie Ring. Catherine "CJ" Bard :Jason's mother, Fianna kin, and a well-respected singer and vocalist among the Sept. Molly Rearden :A nationally famous rockstar and beautiful Fianna kin girl. Jason met her first at Quiet Sun, and the two developed a fast friendship spurred on by Jason's professional admiration for her. For Jason's 18th birthday, Molly gathered all her rock star friends and put on an amazing concert him. For the whole time Jason knew Molly, she was always exclusively dating other Garou. This is the biggest (and perhaps only) reason why Jason and Molly's friendship has always stayed platonic. :As of December 2009, Jason has fallen out of contact with Molly due to his depression and shame from his throat battlescar. He doesn't want her to know how far he's fallen... Malleah 'Leah' Slovenka : Jason met Leah when she was busking in Spokane. Unable to resist the draw of a beautiful redhead with a sultry contralto, Jason quickly recruited her for his band. Though they flirted enormously, it was always subtle or kept on the down-low, as Leah had a /very/ jealous Ahroun boyfriend all while Jason knew her. One day, she just up and disappeared, leaving Jason fairly miffed at having to find a new singer (and a new flirting buddy). Sheet Freebies spent (45 total): :+1 Wits (5), +11 Talents (22), +7 Skills (14) :+1 Rage (1), +1 Willpower (1), +1 Gnosis (2) :Daredevil (3), Animal Magnetism (1), Fast Learner (3), Intolerance (-1), Compulsion (-1), Dark Secret (-1), Mystical Imperative (-2), Cursed (-2) : Expertises and Specialties Dexterity :Specialty: Agile. Whether it's dancing on stage, running across rooftops, or backflipping across rooftops, Jason has a fine control over where his body is and where it's going. Appearance : Specialty: ''Joyful Energy. Jason always seems to be just simmering with some untapped force. He smiles and the room lights up. He laughs and it's like pure mirth is pouring out of him. Just the sight of him is enough to make most people just plain want to smile. 'Talent: Athletics' :''Specialty: ''Freerunning. The perfect combination of danger and idiocy, Jason thrills at anything involving heights and high speeds, where one wrong step or grab can mean a fall and a smashed skull. In Quiet Sun, he'd taken to leaping from building to building as a way to patrol his territory while getting his exercise, and damn if he didn't get good at it. 'Skill: Animal Ken' :''Expertises: Husbandry, Mounted Stunts. Skill: Crafts :Expertises: Carpentry, Woodworking. Skill: Drive :Expertise: Motorcycles. His first vehicle Bianca ever bought him. He's in love with his crotch rocket. Skill: Marksmanship :Expertise: Handguns. Skill: Melee :Expertise: Daggers/Knives. Skill: Performance :Expertises: Singing, Guitar/Fiddle, Couples Dancing (Swing/Salsa/etc), Sleight of Hand/Magic shows. :Specialty: Pleasing The Crowd. No one will ever call any of Jason's performances High Quality. But he manages to inject everything he does with a banter, panache, and energy that always draws the audience in and convinces them to thoroughly enjoy themselves. He's never won any awards, and he never wants to. Getting the laughs and the cheers from the crowds is this Fianna's ultimate high. Knowledge: Culture :Expertise: Recreation. Everybody has a different way they cut loose and party the night away. Knowledge: Linguistics :Languages: English, Gaelic/Celtic. Knowledge: Lore :Expertises: Garou, Fae (Changeling). Jason never received a formal education, because he was too busy being taught everything there is to know about the history of the Garou that a new moon's brain can hold, and a good portion of the history and background of the Fae as well. Backgrounds ;Background: Fetish :Elk Tooth Necklace 2, Gnosis 5 Fetish This necklace of teeth allows the wearer to run and jump twice as far and twice as fast for the duration of the scene. When activated in combat, its bonuses are not cumulative with those of other Gifts. :Jason received this fetish as a gift from his father for completing his Fostern Challenge. It's a Bard family heirloom, passed on through the Garou line, and Jason isn't giving it up any time soon. Merits ;Merit: Daredevil :You're not living unless you can feel that adrenaline. And you're not learning unless you're constantly pushing your own boundaries. Jason relishes toying with limits, especially his own, and seems to find inspiration on that razor's edge of bravery and stupidity. ;Merit: Animal Magnetism :Maybe it's the Fianna blood. Maybe it's that he keeps himself fit and health. Maybe it's that devil-may-care attitude towards life, or the always-ready-for-a-joke smile of his. But there's something about Jason that just promises that, if you'll follow that wink and firm buttocks to the bedroom, you're guaranteed a night to remember. ;Merit: Fast Learner :Coming hand-in-hand with his need to always be living, Jason feels this need to always be learning. Perhaps that's why he's never been very booksmart, as his mind and his body are always jumping at opportunities to learn new yoyo tricks, or learn how to play a new instrument, or learn new jokes, or perhaps learn how to do a standing backflip on a running horse... : : Flaws : ;Flaw: Intolerance : Emo wangst :"The day you stop trying is the day you start dying." Don't ever tell Jason "It's not worth it" or "I can't do anything right". He will lay into you if you say something is "too hard" or if someone is "not fair". If you don't like something /fix it/. If something is too hard, /try harder/. Or hell, try smarter. There are no insurmountable obstacles, and people who would prefer to whine over actually getting shit done are the worst kind of people. ;Flaw: Compulsion : Flirting :It's part of the Fianna blood. Especially when there are attractive females who seem amiable to flirting by a handsome Fianna, Jason literally cannot help flirting with them. The more receptive or flirtatious the girl, and the more attractive, the more Jason will feel the need to flirt back. And the more blatant his flirting will become. This does not mean he'll always be trying to seduce women, but what's the harm if a little harmless flirting lead to a fun night with a cute girl? ;Flaw: Dark Secret :Jason's mate is actually a ragabash disguised as a kin by a stolen Dancer fetish. You can imagine the kind of shit that would hit the fan if this became public knowledge. ;Flaw: Mystical Prohibition or Imperative :Jason once sat down and drank with the Spirit of the Spirits, a beautiful, tan, golden-haired maiden with the most delicious brew he'd ever tasted. While they were drinking, she ordered him to do a few things: Never turn down an offer of hospitality (or drink). Always offer hospitality (or drink) to everyone you meet, every time. Always keep a flask of liquor on you. If Jason accidentally violates any of these rules, all beer, wine, or liquor he drinks will turn to water in his mouth. If he knowingly violates any of these rules, all Rites involving alcohol that he performs (e.g., Lugh's Touch and Hangover Cure) will fail, and he will begin suffering horrible hangovers every morning, whether he had anything to drink the night before or not. These punishments last until the next time he's able to offer hospitality AND a drink to someone. ;Flaw: Cursed :Shortly after he received the imperative from the Spirit of the Spirits, Jason tried for a while to get around the rule by offering only undesirable hospitality and drink to those he met. ("Want some fermented breast milk? It's tasty, tasty!") Spirits don't like rules lawyers though, so the Spirit bestowed a curse on Jason. Any time he would enter a room with alcohol being served, there is a good chance that he or someone in the area will be attacked. Usually, the attack will come from people who have already imbibed plenty of alcohol and can easily be swayed by the effects, but sometimes something /bigger/ and more /dangerous/ will be bringing the pain. (This is a blatant attempt to give GMs a reason to throw any kind of monster they want at a bar, while Jason is inside it.) :Jason has yet to make a connection between these attacks and his arrival. To him, bars are places to get drink, put up chicks, and beat some face in. However, he is getting a little tired of not being able to drink peacefully in public anymore. Advancement (Note: Jason has the Fast Learner merit) Advancement History History Pre-Change Heya! I'm Jason Bard. Like most Garou, I've gone by many names in my life. Dives-Off-Cliffs, Mind-Breaker, Razor-Tongue, Stills-The-Troubled-Waters, Chaos-Bringer, Jason Duskdancer...oh yeah, they're good names. I like 'em all. What you need to know about me is that I'm a new moon, ranked Fostern in Gaia's army, and I am a full-blooded Fianna, even if it's not pure blood. (Yeah, thanks Grandpa Jon, you mutt-banging skeeze. Heh.) Anyways, that's me in a nutshell. The full story is a whole lot longer, though. The biggest influence in my life has to be my home Sept, the Faerie Ring. It'll always be my home, and always have a special place in my heart... I didn't think so at first, but after a bit of traveling, I've come to realize that Faerie Ring is pretty unique, as Garou Septs go. The Sept started as a small caern in the secluded wilderness that drew in some of the earliest Fianna to fight a growing Dancer hive centered in Mt. Shasta. They fought, they grew, yadda yadda yadda, my dad can spend the whole night reciting the official song if you want to ask him. Point is, the Hive and the Sept grew huge until, early 1900s, we finally took out the Dancer Hive and started cleansing the whole mountain. They're still working on that. By then, Faerie Ring had dozens of Garou and hundreds of kin, all hidden away in the Sept compound, far away from humanity. And we've stayed like that. Living in close quarters with each other...well, it didn't take long for the tribes there to eventually boil down to just Fianna. Anyone who wasn't a Fianna was either driven out or ran out on their own. Getting sick of the constant partying, I guess. I dunno. There wasn't a whole lot of book learning to be had at the Sept of the Faerie Ring, to be truly honest. I learned how to read, write, and do that numbers thing. Any Fianna from Faerie Ring knows /shitloads/ about Fianna lore, though, and a good amount about Fae Lore too. What? Didn't I mention? It was with the help of the Fae that we defeated the Dancers. No yeah, totally! Faerie Ring was, like, the last place in the Western world where the Fae lived side-by-side with the Garou, right up until they took out that Dancer nest. Then they just vanished. What, you thought it was just coincidence that a Sept in fucking California was just fuck-all filled with Fianna? Please... Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. Being a Fianna Sept, I was also raised on music. And lots of it. My mom says I took to it like a duck to water. First instrument I ever mastered was my voice, 'course. The Bards have always had good sets of pipes, and my dad married a woman who sounds like a siren when she sings, so it was kinda fated. After I was warbling tenor at 3, though, I picked up whatever instrument they would hand me. My favorites were fiddle, piano and guitar, though. I mean, I can play anything with a few minutes to get warmed up and learn the scales (except for drums, never got the hang of those really), but you can't really play a rousing Irish reel on an oboe, can you? It wasn't til 6 that my parents started showing me off to all their friends. I mean, every kid growing up in the Faerie Ring has some kind of musical talent. I didn't think I was all that special, and they just assumed they were seeing me as more awesome cause I was their son, I dunno. But soon after that, I was playing and singing in bars for all the Fianna. One of my earliest, clearest memories is sitting on the shoulders of the Alpha at the moot, leading the Sept in a raunchy ballad about a Galliard and his sheep. Hah, I still remember how red my mom was! This stuck with me, as you can imagine. I grabbed all the kids around my age I could and started a garage band. Well, more like a tavern band. Not many garages in the Faerie Ring, seeing as most of it was built centuries ago, but shitloads of bars. We started out as a novelty, being that you didn't see a lot of bands out there who weren't made of experienced Garou. But then we kept getting better, and soon we were playing nearly every night, mostly on request. I guess this got my head swelling a little, as I began to think that I could be a SUPAA STAH! *poses* Heh, sorry, had to. Faerie Ring is great. Perfect little place to raise a family, tend to the protection of a caern, and just keep up with friends. But if you want to become a recognized singer in the world, it's like being buried underground. No one can know you. At age 15, I could feel the first bits of Rage in me starting to come up, like my dad guessed I would. Yeah, I know, that's late. But the Garou in the Bard line have a bit of a history of Firsting late, and I was a new moon besides. So I packed shit up, and traveled north, aiming for the largest Sept I knew of: Quiet Sun. First Change Soon as I arrived in Quiet Sun, I realized I didn't want to go to the local Righ just yet. I wanted to live a little! I wanted to get into the whole music and club scene, and see what the big city was like. I was able to grab a job as a musician right quick, even with my age. But I was stuck as a guitar-player. A guitar-player! I never even got the /chance/ to try for frontman, and I knew I had a better voice than any of those long-haired fops with their painted on jeans! Whatever... Point is, I get a hella cheap job, and pulled down enough dough for food and a crappy studio apartment. It was during this time that I met Feilyn. Not the hottest girl on the street, but she was sharp as a tack, had a laugh that could melt candles, and she had a kickin' libido as well. We hit it off great, and I all but moved into her apartment. It was around May of 2004 that I felt the Rage really starting to rear its head, and I knew the procrastination wasn't gonna keep it away. So I said goodbye to Feilyn and made my way to the bawn. Except we didn't really say goodbye. We hooked up one last time, in a meadow just off the border of the bawn. Except, some Garou were heading that way. Drawn by a Crow kinfetch. Yup, someone in that meadow was a Shadow Lord cub ready to pop, and it wasn't me. It's when the Fianna and the Shadow Lords busted into the meadow at the same time that everything went to shit. Feilyn freaked out mid-orgasm and practically threw me off her, which was the only thing that kept me from getting shredded, as she Firsted right after. Hell, I still don't know why I didn't First then, with how surprised and scared I was. But that came later, and thankfully without a Frenzy. Cubhood My cubhood was pretty normal, from what I can remember. I found out that, despite my newfound love of the city and its nightlife, that I really missed the woods. I'd never liked the woods before as much as I did during my cubhood. I blame my First Change, or something. But I was soon running through every inch of it every chance I got. And leaping. And flipping. And climbing. Oh god, the climbing, I'm still in love with those trees. Hell, I broke more bones falling out of them than the Wyrm has ever managed. Anyways...it was this time that I made the biggest mistake of my life: I slept with Feilyn again. See, we were separated by our elders, and for good reason. But because all the cubs were restricted to the bawn, we ran into each other quite a bit. Hell, we were in a cubpack for a while together, along with Javen and my main man Edge. Buuuut the sexual tension, you could cut it with a knife. It was hella distracting. So one night, we were all "Let's have sex! It'll get us some closure." So we did. It was good. And, surprising of all, it worked. But that wasn't the end of it. A nosey theurge who was teaching her at the time found out about it somehow or other, and that just brought the whole thing to light, when nothing would have come of it if it'd been left alone. Feilyn was branded in front of the Sept, my face was carved and I had to wear a charach pendant. Well, after Cole almost beat me to death with his axe. God, that sucked. It made me swear up, down and sideways that I would /never/ charach again. Heh, yeah right...anyways... Feilyn...jesus, I still feel bad about how she turned out. She got all self-destructive after her punishment, hating everyone, hiding away. I know she got knocked up by this Shadow Lord douchebag named Scott, which was bad enough. But I was the one to find the bloodtrail after she was killed by her own tribemate and dragged away. I...fuck, gimme a minute. Can we just move on? Yeah? Cool. Might as well jump to my Rite of Passage anways. Rite of Passage As far as battles go, I gotta admit that my Rite of Passage was nothing really special, though it got me my first trophy. Edge and I were taken by a Stag Totem to a far off piece of woodland where the Wyrm had made a wolf pack into a bunch of fomor. Long story short, Edge and I took out most of the pack, he killed the Beta, I took out the Alpha. The Alpha was a BITCH to kill, since he had bullet-proof skin or something. Claws couldn't get through it. So jammed my claws in his eye sockets and made brain-scramble in his skull. This is how I earned my deed name: Mind-Breaker. Cliathhood A lot of stuff happened while I was a cliath. I mean, a LOT, though most of it is fairly inconsequential in the end. I don't know what was up with the Fosterns at Quiet Sun, but they seemed more scared of people gaining rank than they were of the Wyrm. I dunno what their major malfunction was, and if I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten my ass out of that festering pile of crazy as soon as I got to be a cliath. But then, I wouldn't have met Leyna. Seriously, that girl was the shit. I should've known from right when I met her that she was trouble. We met first on the bawn and she taut me how to dress myself, so when I ran into her at a local dance club smoking up the dance floor, I knew it was her right away. That is /still/ the hottest night I've ever had, that didn't involve taking my pants off. Anyways, long story short, we kept bumping into each other. And soon, we started bumping into each other repeatedly. Naked. With our crotches. Yeah, I know. Charach. Bad. I thought I'd learned my lesson. And damn, /another/ Shadow Lord? Not to mention, she had /issues/. Like /major/ issues. That was what kept me coming back, actually. She was self-assured, confident, and then I'd walk in on her cutting herself. I felt driven to try and understand her, or something. Or at least help her feel like she wasn't alone in the world. And...well, look where we are now. We hooked up and...well, I realized from that that what I had with Feilyn was puppy love. Cause goddamn, we just /clicked/. I'd never been happier than when I was living in sin with Leyna. She got me. She made life fun. I helped her through her rough patches, and she let me feel like I was worth something. Not to mention...the sex? Absolutely fucking /fantastic/, and more than a little kinky, which was great. My life was great...for a while. The fact that I'm telling you about my Fostern challenge at Quiet Sun here kinda hints at how it turned out. It was, by far, the longest and most complex challenge I have /ever/ seen. Not to mention difficult and frustrating. I challenged around mid 2005. I had five tasks, one for each auspice. They involved scouting, fighting, doing tasks for spirits, rousing the rabble into a riot...and staying celibate until the next moot. Nope, not even allowed any 'self-service'. That last part was the hardest by far, I tell ya. And it all would have been soooo much easier if Leyna didn't dump me on my ass right in the middle of it. It was...well, she was harsh. She'd told me she loved me before, but that day she told me it was all pretend. Little kids' games. Damn, I've heard songs of guys talking about girls ripping their hearts out. That phrase doesn't do it justice. It's like she ate it out with acid and a rusty ice cream scoop, yanking on all the nerves the whole way through. I don't know how, but even after that, I managed to finish my Fostern challenge. No seriously, including the celibate part. Heh, I could tell you what I did to celebrate, but I'll save that for someplace not in mixed company. Well, except for one thing...right after Yi-rhya announced my success at moot, a Stag-spirit appeared. Yeah no, one of the big ones. Voice of the Big One and all that. And all he had to say was "Try harder." Can you believe that shit? Goddamn... Anyways, that...well, that destroyed me, as you can imagine. Lost the girl I loved in the middle of putting my heart and soul into a month of constant work. And I'm turned down with no idea how I failed. Yeah, it was then I decided that if I was gonna be stuck as a cliath, I wasn't going to do it in a shithole of social retards like Quiet Sun. So then I came home to the Faerie Ring. /That/ was quite a homecoming, let me tell ya... After the faux-melting pot shitstorm that was Quiet Sun, being back home was...well, it was incredible. A place where everyone treated everyone else like family, where the only gossip that was allowed to travel was the good stuff, where everyone pulled their own weight... See, back in Washington, I felt like I was adrift. I tried to find ways to make myself useful, but none of the Fosterns actually wanted the cliaths to /do/ anything. Any important tasks they couldn't take on themselves were passed out only to handpicked cliaths, who were essentially Fosterns without the rank. Okay okay...I'm gonna stop bitching about that place. I'm done, I swear. *deep breath* Anyways, Faerie Ring. The first thing I did when I got home was try to find a job. And not playing in a band, I'd actually gotten a band of my own started up in Spokane, more for fun than anything. We were making a good name for ourselves. Naw, at Faerie Ring I got a job working under one of the master carpenters. And I found out I'm as good with a set of power tools as I am with a guitar, no lie. And that's a good thing cause, y'see, in a Sept like the Faerie Ring where we're expected to be fully self-sufficient, everyone with any kind of rank or responsibility is expected to be able to pull their own weight. In fact, as soon as I earned right to call myself a Journeyman Carpenter, I was ready to challenge for Fosternship /again/. Though that doesn't mean I wasn't dragging my feet about it. What? Oh /hell/ no! Nah, carpentry wasn't the only thing I spent my year as a cliath back home doing. Catching up with my parents, meeting old friends, getting settled back in. I found out that Little Rosalia had grown into a fine ginger lass, and was working to take over the stables from her parents. We had a bit of a tryst, and she ended up helping me learn how to ride and train the livestock, horses in particular. Damn, never knew I could learn to love the filthy beasts until she learned to entice me by stripping naked and mounting the...umm, I'm getting offtrack... Oh! God, I gotta mention Marina. This girl...shit, she was like the ultimate Coggie. A huge sweetheart, smile to light up the room, and this adorable gorgeous look that could make your knees go weak. She was travelling through Faerie Ring, looking for something. Dunno what. She said she'd lost her husband recently. I tried to help her out, keep her distracted, show her around the Sept. I felt like we were really getting somewhere, too. But one day she just up and left. Man, I still wonder what happened to her... Yeah, I see that look. "Oh Jason, how could you forget Leyna like that, you callous bastard?" Pfeh, I was trying my damnedest to forget her, at the time. Threw myself back into women, drinking, partying with people my own age and my own tribe. And that lead, of course, to music again. Just can't keep a Bard out of music for long. I dunno what it was about that time, but the music started to really pour out of me. It wasn't just something I did for fun anymore. I felt like...The music was speaking through me. Still didn't mean I could write a song to save my life, but I started to perform more as a serious endeavor, both with a band and on my own. I would do carpentry during the day, sing and play all through the evening, and spend my weekends at the bars and on the ranch. I kept myself so busy, I didn't have time to think about Leyna. Or I wouldn't have, if it wasn't for those goddamn notes. It was about a year after I came back to Faerie Ring that I got the first note. "From a friend" it said. It was a picture of Leyna. A wedding picture, of her married to Caleb Hughes, famous billionaire. Shit. Well, that was as good a reason as any to throw myself another endeavor: Challenging for Fostern, again. Fostern Challenge This one...this challenge was interesting. Unlike the last time, when I announced my challenge at the moot, the whole fuckin' place erupted! Like it usually does when you've got a cliath ready to take that next step. Damn, it felt so good to know that people were proud of me, rather than just waiting to see how I'd fuck up. But, that didn't mean they'd go easy on me. There was actually some big news that had hit right around that time, so the timing of my challenge was a little in the way of serendipity. See, a few years before, a group of Sidhe with their entourage had made their way into the wilderness near our Sept and were looking to reclaim the old Freehold at Faerie Ring. Around the time of my challenge, things were a bit rocky but otherwise working well. The biggest problem we kept running up against was that, although my Sept knew bunches about Fae history and lore, we were all pretty damn rusty on Fae etiquette. And the Fae pretty much treated the Garou as aliens, and many didn't know how to deal with us. It made for a pretty tenuous relationship. Well, at one point another Fostern ragabash ended making a promise to the Sidhe about something or other...and then breaking his promise. I dunno what it was about, it was a while ago and I wasn't too clear on the details even then, but it was a Big Deal. Big enough that the Ahrouns were preparing for war. Yeah, war in your own backyard with an enemy who has powers you only partially understand is bad, mmkay? So they threw me at the Fae as a last-ditch effort. Why? Well, a large portion of the entourage was made up of Satyrs, and this whole group of Fae was really into good entertainment. Guess that's why they wanted to set up a freehold in a Fianna sept. Anyways, I went and offered myself as kind of a temporary jester to the Sidhe court, to show them not all Fianna are dickheads. There was laughing, sure...but hey, they were game to test my mettle. And I was like, cool. So they pitted me against their current court entertainer, a Satyr, in a song-and-danceoff. No one told me it would last from sunrise to sunset! I think. I mean, I'm pretty sure. Most of the next month after that is a blur, or more like a dream. It's taken me months to piece this together, and some of it might be completely made up! I only know it was a month because my Sept said so when I got back. See, as soon as I got there, they gave me some wine that made me /see/ them. Like, really see them. Instead of a room full of odd humans, it was all kinds of Fae creatures. Apparently, that's being Enchanted. Well then! I paced myself, of course. I mean, I had staying power, sure, but near twelve hours? A guy's gonna need a break somewhere in there. Nope, no breaks. We started off, both raring and ready to go. The Satyr stuck to his guns, he was known for acrobatics, dancing, and long-winded ballads. Man, that dude had /pipes/! Me, I went with the old tales from my childhood, regaling them with the Honor and Glory of the Fianna. I wanted to not only win, but give them a good impression of the Sept, y'know? Yeah, that didn't go over so well. Turns out the Fae weren't all that interested in battles against the Wyrm, deals made with spirits, or the stories of Fianna legends who /did/ keep their promises. Which worked at first, but the mostly-Satyr audience was as enthralled with those droning stories as I am. By noon, I was lagging behind, definitely. And by afternoon, I was physically lagging as well, with no way to catch up. Alright, fine. Time to try something new. Before I visited, my elders had sat me down and drilled into me how important it was to be upright and sophisticated for the Sidhe. Well, that clearly wasn't working. Nor was standing up there and being just a vehicle for the story, like traditional bards. So I changed things up a little, fell back on what I'd picked up from my concerts in Spokane. First off was "Under the Scotsman's Kilt", with me stealing a tablecloth and wrapping it around my waist. I knew things were going well when a few of the girls creeped up behind me and took a peek under he kilt, just as the girls in the song did. Man, they latched onto that, it was amazing! From there, I went through my repertoire, snatching up audience members to join in when they could. And, lucky for me, someone had a guitar on them. I think it was the middle of a rousing rendition of "You Shook Me All Night Long" that the scales really started to tilt, when a Satyr girl and a catgirl Pooka got up and started doing some dirty dancing with each other to the song. That was the first time that night I head the existing Jester miss a note. Oh yeah, they were Distracting. And hell, I wasn't about to give up my advantage. So I pressed on, using every trick I knew to keep the audience engaged. I never asked outloud for it, but more people would join in, getting bolder and louder and having more fun. At once point, I grabbed up a fiddle and reached deep for another burst of energy...and lead the audience in a reel that made the room shake and drowned out my more musically talented opponent with the stomping and cheering. At sunset, I was declared the winner. I think I slept for two whole days after that, I was so fucking exhausted. I couldn't even bring myself to flirt back with the girls. Though I do remember waking up with a Satyr girl on one side of me and the Pooka catgirl on the other, so that was nice. After I was up and about, they set me to my new task with fervor. And damn did I ever have fun! They kept me Enchanted the whole time, so I never got to scope out hot human legs on the Satyr girls, but it was worth it to fool around with a few of them every night. However, that month contained the most difficult performances I've ever had to handle. It wasn't like performing for my Sept, where everybody knew and liked me, or for the clubs in Spokane where every was just happy to be out of the house and someplace with loud music. Nuh uh, these were people with /expectations/. A lot of the Fae were actually a little miffed at me for showing up one of their own. I had to /work/ for their attention, sweat for their smiles. And in the end, it was worth every belabored breath. I even managed to slip in a number of morality stories tailored towards Garou morals, and maybe helping them see things from the Garou side for a bit. Regardless, my time as co-Jester to the Sidhe court was over way too soon, and I was sent home. Apparently I'd been given up for dead, or they figured I'd been taken prisoner, or something. The Fae weren't all that talkative about my whereabouts, and no one could get a straight answer out of them. In retrospect, my friends that asked after me should have known not to go to a Pooka for that info. Oh well, it worked out okay. After I'd had time to let the Enchantment wear off (and I stopped seeing Aunt Jim in rainbow colors and wearing a tutu), I told them all about how things had went. And the letter of contrition the Fae had me deliver on my trip back corroborated my story pretty damn well. Needless to say, I made Fostern and I was given the deed name Stills-The-Troubled-Waters. Heh, Trouble, for short. After I had more time to get my head clear, my family celebrated the shit out of my success. I dropped my jaw to the floor when my dad took the Elk Tooth Necklace from around his neck and offered it to me, as a congratulations. Huh? Shit yeah, you better believe I took it! That thing is a fetish, and a nice one! Yeah, I still wear it, proudly. It's a Bard family heirloom, doncha know. Fosternhood Phew, that was a long ass story. Can you top me off? Much obliged. ... Ahhh, that hit the spot! Okay, my Fostern life! Unfortunately for me, after that happy peak, I had a long way to fall. Things smoothed out between the Garou and the Fae quite nicely after that, but not without a little rough sailing every now and then. Totally different creatures after all, and we'd been out of contact for nearly a century. Can't rebuild those bridges overnight, after all. But anytime things got rocky again, they'd send me over to chat up the Sidhe, put on a little show, get a few laughs. The main Jester and I started to get along pretty well, actually. And so things went well for me. I was back in my own life, I worked on perfecting my carpentry, but I started spending a little less time on that and the stables than before, focusing more and more and perfecting my art as an entertainer. If only those goddamn letters hadn't shown up. A month after my Fostern challenge ended, I started getting newspaper clippings in the mail. Stuff about Leyna and her happy husband, how they donated money to this, or opened this museum, or how they were spotted at this new restaurant... Each time I thought I'd forgotten about her, another letter would come, and I'd feel like I'd gotten stabbed in the stomach. But that was good, that was fine... It just meant I threw myself even more into performing. Keep busy, and I wouldn't have time to think on it. Late one night, I was woken up by the sound of someone moving around in the living room, so I went to investigate. There, I found the "friend" who'd been leaving all the notes for me. Some smarmy, smirking jackass of a Shadow Lord. What he'd left was news that...Leyna and her husband had died in car crash. He was so conscending, so snarky, so smarmily sympathetic...I beat his fucking face in until it didn't even look like a face. Then I let him go. Yeah yeah, I know. I wasn't thinking straight. And I didn't start thinking straight for a long while after, either. See, before, I at least knew Leyna was out there and happily living her life. That made it a little bit easier, even if I knew she still scorned me and I wasn't there to share it. But dammit, to know she'd died...probably only to protect the Veil.... I started to slip. First, I would zone out during rehearsals. Then I found myself zoning out during shows. It was when I lost my hand to the table saw that things really went to pieces. I had to spend a week healing, and that gave me time only to think. And drink. Oh Lord, was there ever a lot of drinking. For two months I drank and drank and moaned and groaned, my depression broken only by dreamless sleep. Yeah yeah, sob story, I know, just wait... I ended up telling everybody how much I missed her, though thank Gaia I never told her who exactly she was. In fact, when she showed up at my pub, I thought she was a hallucination. Hah! Yeah, I know, right? I thought she was dead, too! God, soon as I made sure she was real, I launched myself into her arms. First thing she did was ask me for forgiveness. Fuck that, I was just happy she was still alive! We spent the rest of the night together, sharing our bodies and our stories. I found out that everything, from her breaking up with me to the death of her husband in the car crash (yeah, that was real) was orchestrated by that asshole who I'd beat the shit out of that late night. Yeah, I dunno either. Bianca said he just wanted to see her suffer, said she didn't deserve--what? Oh, right. Well, after her husband died, Leyna ended up changing her name via a Rite. To get her second chance. She named herself Bianca. Can't imagine it was easy for her accountants, considering all the assets she was juggling, too. What? I didn't mention that either? Sheesh...yeah, when Bianca found me again, she was a billionaire. I also found out she'd found a fetish that lets her disguise herself as a kin to all Garou or spirit noses. It was after she'd told me about the latter (but before the former) that I proposed to her. Yeah, same night, I asked her to be my mate. What can I say? I was still on Cloud Nine that, not only was she still alive, but she still wanted to be with me as much as I wanted her. And let me tell you something, Jacko... I have never once, for a single moment, regretted taking her as my mate. /Never/. *sigh* Hmm? Oh right, sorry. Heh. Well, let's see...oh yeah, we spent a lot of time at the Faerie Ring, with Bianca settling into a new life and all that. It surprised the hell out of me, but she made a very happy housewife. Man, she sure learned how to make a good turkey. And she looks /amazing/ in a house dress. Rowr! Heh, right right... Anyways, my parents and the Sept were a bit wary about a Shadow Lord. I mean, I /am/ the Righ's son, so I'm kinda scrutinized closely at time. But they're all my friends anyways, and I think most were just happy to see her pull me out of my funk. Not to mention my parents loved her when they saw she could shoot banter right back at me with a smile. After our marriage (which had me sweating bullets during the "Speak or forever hold your peace" part), I realized that I had no past to run from anymore. So I got back into things, and even got back into the habit of doing stuff outdoors. I mean, I was living in the most beautiful natural landscape in the Western US, how could I not? Me and a group of Fianna took to hiking, biking, cross-country running, swimming...you name it, we did it. I tried to drag Bianca along, but she usually could only keep up with the medium energy stuff. I don't blame her, we were pretty hardcore. After a while, though, I felt the tug to get out of the Sept for a while, do some good. I'd heard local Septs were in need of help from experienced Garou, and also I wanted to pack with her. Something I couldn't do at home, since starting it up would be pretty damn obvious to my friends and family, and might tip somebody off. Plus, I had the perfect idea of what totem to go for... (See Bianca's history for packing with coyote) That night. That night, dammit, I had a bad feeling about that night. But they needed a guide through the territory, someone who knew where the darkest shadows were. So I led them, the Garou and the kin through the Dancer territory. It went great, except some idiot spooked the kin and set them to screaming. Soon as I heard that first shriek, I knew we were set for a rough night. I got them hauling ass fast as the could off the territory, and everyone got moving right as the first Dancers came. The lead few were taken out by our gunmen, but then they had to reload, and the second wave was vicious. I don't remember what much happened during that battle, I was too busy fighting for my life to keep them away from the kin and the convoy. I've pieced together the last moments I can remember...I remember a Spiral in Hispo getting in under my guard and getting his jaws around my throat. I remember him tearing my neck clean in half. I remember knowing that that wasn't a wound I could ignore. I remember seeing the convoy, and being glad that they'd get away at least. Then I remember red. I woke up in bed with Bianca watching over me, and I quickly found out what the damage was. I'd ragehealed back and slaughtered that Hispo, but it was at the cost of my voice. It was gone, altogether. I could barely even whisper. I...I'm not proud of what happened to me, after that. I think I fell into Harano. I hadn't felt that bad since I thought Bianca had died. But this time, there was no closure. There was no death and a promise of an afterlife. Just me, living with my greatest gift taken away from me. The thing that had let me reach the station in life where I was. And I was a dick to Bianca. I was angry, horribly depressed, and numb to an extent. No matter how Bianca tried (Gaia bless her) she couldn't get a smile out of me. I...can't count how many time I wanted to choke her to death during the really bad days. I don't want to think about how many times I almost did. But she still stayed with me, even when I shut myself away from everyone else. She tried to help me. In fact, she even found a theurge who said he could help me out. The attempt to heal me was excruciating. It's like my battlescar was trying to get burned away. And in the end, it failed. None of us knew why, the spirit moon was baffled. Shit, that sunk me into even deeper depression, after I'd like myself get my hopes up. Bianca didn't give up, though, and she soon found out about Crystal Springs and the healing waters.. Oh, shit! Is that the time? Alright, I gotta run but, thanks for the drinks! And hey, I'm buying the next time, and I'll give you the rest of the story, okay? Trivia *Jason's accent is a mix of California and Irish, though the latter tends to fade whenever he's away from the Faerie Ring for long. *Jason is an excellent entertainer, a skilled carpenter, unmatched in stealth except by a few more experienced ragabashes, and a pretty damn good hand at training and riding horses. *Jason has four battlescars: **Deep gouges of missing flesh on his shoulder from when a Dancer attacked him as a cub. **Pockmarks and a pink crescent where he's missing a rib from when he took a shotgun blast to the chest. **A criss-cross of Crinos claw marks on his lower back from when he mouthed off to Quiet Sun's warder a few too many times. **A pink starburst of scar tissue on his neck (and no adam's apple) where his larynx was ripped out. He's currently working to get this scar healed. *Jason is straight. Sorry guys, he's been down that road before, and it's not for him. Totally 100% straight. *Jason's tongue is significantly longer in Glabro than in Homid, and he has a good amount of control over it in any form. *Jason is a firm believer in the idea that you can deeply and passionately love more than one person at once. He believes strict monogamy is quaint and a little outdated. Having an exclusive mate is flattering to the mate, but humans and wolves aren't designed to be sexually exclusive. He believes in the concept of your mate being your "favorite" and your first priority, but there is nothing morally wrong with a little infidelity, if both parties' significant others are aware of and condone it. *If a girl wants to cheat on her mate (with him), Jason won't try to talk her out of it. It's her decision, after all. *Jason rides a beautiful Ducatti motorbike. *Jason is married to Bianca Mikhaylov, a Shadow Lord Ragabash who is disguised as a kin. And who is also a billionaire by inheritance. *Jason has a favorite leather jacket that's worn, scratched, and well loved. Despite his mate's wealth, he refuses to replace this jacket, and wears it at all times, except when it gets too hot out. *Jason's usual attire consists of tight jeans, t-shirts with funny text on them, and hiking boots or sneakers. *Jason's current collection of t-shirts includes: :::::: Category:Garou Category:Fianna Category:Ragabashes Category:Homid Category:Fostern Category:NPCs